KRASNAYA POLYANA, Russia — In a soupy rain, 40 of the world's best snowboard racers battled through four rounds of crash-addled heats on Russia's burly Olympic cross course to a climactic finish that delivered France its first-gold medal and ended America's Olympic dominance in snowboard cross.

Pierre Vaultier, a veteran of the French Army who tore his ACL two months ago, led through intense racing to earn France its third gold medal of the Sochi Winter Olympics. Vaultier won each of his four races, but the final race was the closest for the 26-year-old, with Russian Nikolay Olyunin haunting the Frenchman from the start. Vaultier's lateral moves across the racecourse thwarted Olyunin's repeated attempts to sneak past on the rollers and large jumps, forcing silver for the host country.

Olyunin's silver is the second snowboarding medal in Olympic history for Russia, behind Yekaterina Ilyukhina's parallel giant slalom silver in the 2010 Winter Games.

"I think I proved to all of Russia that snowboarding does exist, and in this country we do have skillful masters," said the 22-year-old Olyunin. "I can say I'm a pioneer. I recently left the junior competitions. I still believe I'm quite young. Notwithstanding this, I did a lot of work, made a lot of sacrifices."

American Alex Deibold, who grew up in Vermont but lives in Boulder, earned bronze, patiently moving up the pack with consistent riding that has characterized his racing this season, his tenth year on the U.S. Snowboarding Team's second-tier B Team.

"After today I finally made it onto the A Team after about 10 years," said Deibold, who served his teammates in the 2010 Winter Olympics as a wax tech, prepping their board for races and won silver at the World Cup Olympic test event last year on the same course.

In a Winter Olympics rife with upsets, the snowboard cross contest kept that narrative alive, with the top-seeded riders missing the podium.

American Nate Holland, one of the most decorated snowboarders in the sport who earned his seventh X Games gold medal last month in Aspen, again stumbled on the grandest stage. The three-time Olympian has yet to find his groove in the Olympics, with crashes in both 2006 and 2010 knocking him out of Olympic contention.

"The Olympic rings. These five rings, they don't agree with me exactly apparently," he said with a moue of bitter disappointment. "Every Olympics for me has ended in a fall. I felt great in all of them. They give me a lot of drive and a lot of joy when I'm here, but also a lot of heartbreak at the end of the race."

Holland and American Trevor Jacob were leading in their first round heat when Holland misjudged a roller and washed out.

"I knew I was going to have to make the ground shake today," he said. "Landing flat, I just thought I was going to be able to stomp it out."

Nick Baumgartner, another American considered a contender for a medal, failed to move beyond the initial heats, which whittled 40 riders to 24.

"It's a bummer. You put in so much hard work trying to get to these Olympics," said the 32-year-old former wrestler who won the 2011 X Games and beat out two-time Olympic gold medalist Seth Wescott to make the 2014 Olympic team. Like Holland, Baumgartner struggled in the 2010 Winter Games.

"I've spent the last, shoot, 10 to 12 years of my life trying to get a medal at these games," he said.

American snowboard cross newbie Jacob, the 20-year-old frenetic skateboarder, halfpipe snowboarder and freestyle motocross rider many of his teammates hail as the most gifted athlete they know, advanced to the third-round semifinals. Wearing his Evel Knievel helmet (he bragged he's had more concussions than his age,) the brazen rider charged through qualifying rounds. In the intense semifinal round, he and Deibold grappled in mid-air on the course's penultimate jump, seeming to exchange blows as they soared. Both racing for the third-place spot that would advance one of them into the finals, the pair slide across the finish line on their backs. Their families in the crowd embraced in open-mouthed horror, staring at the giant screen to see who would advance. It took a slow-motion photo replay to put Deibold a breath ahead.

Jacobs barely seemed bothered, noting his expectations were tempered as a 20-year-old in a sport dominated by riders who have been competing as long as he's been alive. Minutes after his sliding finish, he told reporters he had broken his ankle on the initial jump of the semifinal round. It had already been shredded, he said. But a pop on the landing confirmed more damage.

"It was about a 1," he said of the initial pain. "Now it's at about a 5 and in about 15 minutes it will probably be at a 10."

Jacob, who plans to join the high-flying motocross tour Nitro Circus in Australia in May, said he hopes to compete in both snowmobile freestyle and snowboard cross at the Aspen X Games, becoming the first athlete to cross from snowmobile to snowboard at the storied event.

"I've got a lot of adventures I want to go on," he said, noting that he will likely return to snowboard cross despite his varied interests. "It's the best sport I've found so far."

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